Chancellor frontrunner Merz vows stronger German army, bolder foreign policy

BERLIN

Leading German chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz pledged on Saturday to strengthen the armed forces and pursue a more active foreign policy if his Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) wins parliamentary elections this Sunday.

Speaking at his final rally in Munich one day before the crucial elections, Merz strongly criticized the current government's failure to provide adequate budget and military procurement to strengthen the Bundeswehr.

“Peace is no longer secure. We want to be in a position to defend ourselves, so that we never have to defend ourselves. That is the decisive message for our defense and foreign policy,” he said.

“We will only be taken seriously again in the world if we strengthen our armed forces and make them capable of defending our country in an emergency — and that applies to Germany and especially to us Europeans,” Merz added.

The 69-year-old conservative is the frontrunner in surveys ahead of Sunday's vote and is widely predicted to be Germany's next chancellor. Merz's CDU/CSU currently leads the polls with 29%, putting them nearly 14 percentage points ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD).

However, Merz is unlikely to secure an absolute majority in parliament and would need a coalition partner to form a government. Analysts predict a coalition between his Christian Democrats and Social Democrats as the most likely outcome, though with many undecided voters and Germany's complex electoral system, this projected outcome remains uncertain.

If the liberal FDP and left-populist BSW parties reach the 5% threshold for parliamentary representation, Merz would need to form a three-party coalition to secure a majority—a scenario that could lead to prolonged negotiations and political uncertainty.